Pickle season is over long ago, but a pickle lover like me won’t stop eating them no matter the season. Anyway, this would be my last pickle recipe of this year. So I am introducing my own recipe of green apple chatni. The green apples I picked from Møns Klint, so this will be always a special recipe to me.

The ingredient lists are handful – paach phoron, sugar, dry red chili, tamarind, mustard oil, salt etc. I added fresh ginger too, as I think ginger is a really good pair with green apple (or any kinds of apple, so to speak).

As we all know, apple tends to get brown with air, so after I cut them into slices and discarded the core, I dipped them under lemon water.

After dipping apples under lemon-water for 10 minutes, I weighed the apples. It was almost 1 kilo apples. So I used ingredients accordingly.

So, after all the prepping, it’s time to start cooking. In a large big wok (as the amount of apple is 1 kilo), I added mustard oil. Then I added paach phoron, ginger slices and dry red chilies (cut into several pieces) when the oil got hot. As I could not see anything under oil due to bubbles, I stirred continuously so that the ingredients don’t get burned.

After stirring the paach phoron for 15-20 seconds, I added apple slices, salt and sugar. Everything to be stirred continuously until all the sugar got dissolved.

I added a table spoon of tamarind paste to add bit of color and taste to the pickle.

Then I covered the pot with lid and set the temperature in low. This way the apples get cooked, as you can see, after 10 minutes, skins changed colour already. The apple pieces are not yet softer, so I covered the pot again until the apples are cooked.

The apples are cooked and got mushy. At this stage I added a table spoon of vinegar, crushed chili and combined all ingredients together.

I stirred continuously until the consistency are thickened. I tasted meanwhile to see if the salt, sugar are on right balance with apple tartness.

Here’s the final look of the apple chatni. It looks more like apple jam, but spicy and tart. The best way to keep it fresh longer is to put it on refrigerator. So, try this apple chatni and enjoy Bangladeshi cooking!

Recipe: Apple Pickle – Apple er Achar /Chatni

Ingredients: Green Apple– 1 Kilo (after discarding core) Salt- as per taste Dry Red Chili – 4/5 pieces Whole pach phoron – 1 tsp Fresh ginger – 1 small piece Mustard oil – 1 cup (250ml) Tamarind sauce- 1 table spoon Sugar- 1/2 cup Vinegar – 1 tbsp Lemon slices

Instructions: 1. Discard apple core and put under lemon water for 10minues. 2. In a big non stick pan/wok, add mustard oil and heat in medium temperature, add paach phoron, ginger slices and few dry red chili . When they releases aroma, add the apple slices that was sieved from water before. 3. Add sugar and tamarind sauce. Stir until the sugar gets dissolved. 4.Cover the pot and cook for 15-20 minutes, continue to stir in between. 5. When apples are cooked, add chili flakes and vinegar. When the consistency gets thicker set them aside in a bowl to cool down. Store in refrigerator for 6 months.